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ITE' STATES PATENT en.

L. o.Y cRooKER, or BRAINTREE, AND G. F. FIELD, or wnYMoUTH, MAss.

,TICKET-CUTTER;

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 64,286, dated April 30, 1867.

To all whom it may concern:V

Be it known that we, L. O. CROCKER, of Braintree, and G. F. FIELD, of Weymouth, all in the county of Norfolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improved Ticket Cutter or Punch; and we do hereby declare that the following, taken in connection with the drawings which accompany and form part of this speciiication, is a description of our invention sufficient to enable those skilled in the art to practice it.

The invention relates particularly to the construction of that class of punches used principally by railroad-conductors to cancel passagetickets 5 and has for its object the rendering of such instruments capable 0f being more easily worked, and such arrangement of the spring by which the dies are forced apart as shall make the punch more enduring.

The invention consists, primarily, in the construction and arrangement of the stripper or clearer, which forces the card from the punch or die, and in some of the details of construction, as will be herein set forth.

The drawings represent a punch or ticketcutter embodying our invention, A showing a slde view, and B an end view, thereof; C, a plan of the clearer or stripper.

a denotes the upper, and b the lower, jaw, jointed together at c, and having respective handles d e, as seen at A. From the outer end of the lower handle d a steel wire, f, extends 1n between the handles, its end passing into and working loosely in the other handle, e, near the joint. Near the handle dthis wireis formed mto a finger slot or recess, g, by which the instrument may be held swinging upon the fingerwhen not in direct use; and between the projection or bend forming this linger-piece and the handle e a spiral spring, h, surrounds the Wire, the stress of the spring keeping the handles normally apart, as will be readily understood.

Now, as usually made, thiswire is itself the dlstendingspring, it being Xed at one end to the inner surface of one of the handles, and bearing at its other end directly against the inner surface of the other handle. In such application, however, so much stress comes directly upon the spring that it soon breaks, rendering the instrument useless for the time, or until the spring can be replaced by the maker. But by carrying the end of the wire into the handle, and allowing it to play loosely in or through the same, and applying the spring h to force apart the handles,no particular stress comes upon the wire, and the liability of the spring-wire to break is entirely overcome.

To the jaw a is fixed the die i, having a cutting face or edge corresponding to the letter or canceling mark or designation to be cut in the card, this die operating in connection with a counter-die of corresponding form or outline in the opposite jaw, as in other punches of this character. Ordinarily, however, the card is cleared 'om the male die, after being cut, by a spring acting as a stripper, this spring being fastened under the jaw and bent around into the plane of the die-face, as seen at D, a rubber spring beingsometimes interposedbetween the spring and jaw to increase the action of the stripper. Such strippers, however, soon break or become unserviceable, and have to be forced down below the cutting-face of the die by the direct action of the operating-face of the counter-die jaw.

To remedy this defective construction we apply a rigid stripper-plate, lc, having no flexibility or elasticityinitself, but being supported at its outer end against a spiral spring or springs, Z, and connected at such end to the diejaw, and being hinged or jointed at its inner end to, and so as to move with, the other jaw, near the joint c, as seen at m.

The connecting pins, around which the springs Z are wound, are headed at one or both ends, so that while the stripper can be compressed against lsuch springs, its normal posi tion is regulated and determined by these pins, while the action of the spring which opens the handles brings the inner end of the stripper into normal position, in which position the acting surface of the stripper is in a plane with the acting surface of the die.

Now, when a card is inserted between the die-j aws and the handles are brought together, the movement of one jaw toward the other forces the stripper above the die-face, leaving the die free to cut, or free from pressure of the stripper at such face during most'of its cutting action, the face of the counter-die j aw onlyr having to force the stripper up at the outer point of the die.

When the card is cutthe actionof the springs Z forces the stripper down, and. releases the card at the outer end of the die only, the action of the spring h, in separating the handles, producing most of the movement of the stripperplate by reason of the plate being hinged to the jaw b, as shown at m.

To facilitate the cutting action of the die We bevel the face thereof both laterally and, 1ongitudinally, so that the die commences to out at one side and end thereof, instead of equally Y or simultaneously upon both sides, or along its Whole cutting-edge. i

The instrument thus made is found to be very enduring, having no springs ,which are liable to break, and having the cutter and stripper Y so arranged and operated that a card will al- Ways be cut, and be cleared fromA the instrument after being out, With ease and facility. i f

VA stout rubber spring may be placed over y the inner end of the stripper to force the card' from the die, the end of the stripper being eX.-

tended up into the joint-slot of the instrument, v

and so that the stripper is moved away from the dieface as the jaws begin to close but the 'l specific' construction shown is considered preferable.

VV'e claimv 1.l The arrangement of the stripper k, With its outer end supported against and operated by a spiral spring or' springs, l, and its inner end jointed or connected with, and so as to be operated by, th'e counter-die jaw b, substantially asset forth.

`2r Combining with the Wiref the spring g,

operating as and for the purpose substantially as set forth.

3.- In combination with the stripper-plate k,

moved from the die before the action of the- I counter-die jaw, theinclination of the cuttingface of the die both laterally andv longitudinally, 4substanjially as described.v

' Y L,v 0. CROCKER.

y G. F.' FIELD.

f Witnesses: F. GoULn,

L Hf LATIMER. 

